I guess I am the unenlightened one here. I know brifters are combo brake/shifters found on road bikes but I guess I didn't realize, at the time, the people the bike shop guys must deal with on a daily basis. So bad of me to think this way. The young man probably sees a lot of novice cyclists in a day and just thought I was another one! He was a nice guy and I was nice to him . . . lucky for me he couldn't read my mind though! Here's where keeping things in has worked for me. I guess there are worse things then being thought of as . . . OMG . . . a NOVICE!